The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1887-01-26

But where the Lord has planted grace,
And made His glories known,
There fruits Of heavenly Joys are found
And there alone
You lost parent; some one said that il
was in the regular course of nature that your
father should expire. Did that comfort youl
You lost child; somebody said if that child
had lived it might have turned out badly. Did
that comfort your You lost your property;
they told you that riches were very uncer-
tain You knew that before. You were
sick; they explained to you that the difficulty
was in the secretions or in the sciatlc nerve.
Did that soothe you, o, the despicable
quackery Of earthly comfort But when
Christ comes TO the soul and says:
Il took your estate because l wanted
to give YOU more valuable treasures; made
you sick in body that your soul might be
brought up TO eternal health; / took your
loved ones away because l have a better
and brighter place for them in my own pres
ence;" then the wound heals, then the tears
dry off the face, then God has become the
everlasting portion of the soul Oh, the air
is full of black wings and ravens beaks.
They join their wings Of darkness until they
shut out the light Of the sun. They have fat
tened on the carcasses of men. Their clangor
is horrible TO the ear. Trouble and disease
and death coming down on the wind No
wonder these souls have come for shelter as
doves to their Windows What does the
pigeon in the coop care for the hawk in the
SKYE
Safe in Christ, safe forever The mount
aims may depart, and the hills be removed,
but Thy loving kindness shall never fail.
Again These souls, like doves, fly home.
Most of the winged denizens have no home;
now they are at the north and now at the
south, as the climate indicates. This year
nest in one tree, next year a nest in another
tree. The golden oriole remains but three
months Of the year in Germany, and is then
gone The linnet of Norway crosses the
ocean to find rest from the winters blast.
The heron, the goldfinch and the grossbeak
are migratory. The cranes call each other
together several days before going, choose
their leader, arrange themselves in two lines,
forming an angle, and are gone. But the
pigeons alluded to in the text, GUNNER and
winter and always, have home in the dove
cot And so Christ is the home of those who
come to him. He is O warm home; they rest
under the feathers of the Almighty" Christ
tells US that chickens find not warmer place
under the wing of the hen than we in Him.
He is a safe home; our fortunes may go
down ten degrees below zero, the SHOWS of
trouble may fall, the winds of persecution
may howl, the jackals of death may stalk
forth-all is well, for great peace have they
who trust in God" From this home we shall
never be driven out. The sheriff may sell US
| out Of our earthly house or the fires may
burn it down, or the winds carry it away,
but that home shall always be ours
Men talk as though starting for God were
| putting out on trackless moor, or wandering
| through the sands of a great Sahara. No,
| so TO hn md of
homes, "as doves to the windows"
Again: These souls to-day gathering for
membership, are like doves, because they
come in fiocks. The buzzard, with dripping
beak, futtering up from the carrion, is alone.
| You occasionally look up against the wintry
| sky and see solitary bird winging past. But
doves or pigeons are in focks; by scores and
| hundreds do they fly. You hear the loud
whirr of their wings as they pass. So to-day
/ we see great flock coming into the king
| dom 1t is not a straggler, trying to
catch up with his regiment; it is
a solid phalanx, taking the king
dom. 1t is not a drop ON your hand or
check that leaves you in doubt whether it
rains or not, but the rush of an unmistakable
shower.
There are all ages in this flock Some of
them are young, and the very first use they
make of their wings is to fly into the king
| dom. Some of them are old, and their wings
have been torn with shot and ruffled with the
tempest. and they had almost dropped into
the sea. Some OF them have been making
very crooked course. They dipped their wings
in fountains of sin-they wandered near the
| gulf of perdition; but they saw their danger
| they changed their course. They have come
at last "as doves to the windows"
| I thank God that have lived tO coo this
| day; to my dying hour / shall not cease to
praise Him for this manifestation of His
grace Praise 20 Him, sun and moon and
starsl Praise Him, church militant ON earthi
| Praise Him, church triumphant in heavenl
| Let the church beneath raise up its right hand
of graduation, and the church above reach
down its right hand of joy, and while the two
are,clasped let the elders of the church put to
| our lips the wine of earthly celebration, and
the cupbearers of heaven bring up out of the
vaults of eternity the oldest wine, prepared
| by Him who trod the wine press alone, and
SO let two worlds at once keep jubileeI
Who are these who come to us to-day?
| Many are young. Until Robert Raikes came
there was no organized effort for saving the
| young. We spent all of our strength trying
| to bend old trees, when little pressure would
have been sufficient for the sapling. We let
| fore we try to lift them up 1t is greal deal
easier to keep a train on the track than to get
| it on when it is off. The experienced reins-
man checks the fiery steep at the first jump,
| for when he gets full swing, the swift hoofs
| clicking fire from the pavement and the bit
| between his teeth, his momentum is irresist-
| ible. 1t is said that the young must be al
| lowed to SOW their "wild oats" I have
noticed that those who SOW their wild oats
seldom try to raise any other kind of crop
went through the heaviest snowstorm
have ever known TO see a dying girl Her
cheek on the pillow was white as the snow on
| the easement Her large round eye had not
lost any of its luster. Loved ones stood all
around the bed trying to hold her back. Her
mother could not give her up, her father
could not give her up, and one nearer to
her than either father or mother was
frantic with grief | said: Fanny, how do
| you feelr' "Oh,n she says, ''happy, happy,
Mr.. Talmage; tell all the young folks that
religion will make them happy" As / came
out of the room, louder than all the sobs and
wailings of grief, | heard the clear, sweet,
glad voice of the dying girl: GOOD night;
we shall meet again on the other side of the
river The next Sabbath we buried her
We brought white flowers and laid them on
the coffin. There was in all that crowded
church but one really happy and delighted
face, and that was the face of Fanny OF
I wish that to-day my Lord Jesus would go
through this audience and take all these flow
ers of youth and garland them on his brow
But while great flock this day comes to
the dove cot of mercy, the largest flock is
| going the other way. 1t is a very easy thing
to tame doves Go out with a handful of
corn to feed pigeons and they viii fly on your
shoulders and your hands, so tame are they.
God has fed those who are before me with
"the finest of wheat and yet you have flown
| from Him all your lives long You have
taken your clothes out of His wardrobe and
| your bread out of His hands Gods spirit
will not always strive In the morning
after a severe night, you have gone out and
seen the birds dead ON the snow: so, after
awhile, Gods mercy will cease, and the earth
will be covered with the bodies of those who
persisted in the storm. That storm is COM
ing. 1t will shiver the mast of pride
it will drive into the white reefs
of death every cargo of sin. The
cedars of the mountain will split in the hur-
ricane, and the islands shall be moved out of
their places, and the continents shall be rent
asunder, and the hemisphere shall whirl like
top in the fury of that day The noun
tafns viii be blasted and the beasts. in
alright, be pitched from the cliffs in an ava
lanche of terror. The dead shall rush forth
from their sepulchres to see what is the mat
ter, and all those who despise God shall horri-
bly, perish.
Now do you suppose that can stssrd here
and know that that day is coming without
telling you about iti My last resting place
viii probably be near yours What if, when
get up in the resurrection day, should see
you rushing at me across the lots of the GEM
etery, and here you cry: aWhy did you not
tell me of thiss II it had not been for your
neglect / should have been on the way to
glory" Icannot prepare myself for such
conservation
aCan you tell me how far ii Is to hellTr